Entrepreneur Elon Musk has reversed course and decided not to join Twitter’s board after becoming the company’s largest share holder, the company’s CEO said in a statement on Sunday night.
“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a statement. “The Board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly. We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks. We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward. The board offered him a seat.”
“We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance,” Agrawal continued. “Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.”
“There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged,” the statement concluded. “The decisions we make and how we execute is in our hands, no one else’s. Let’s tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building.”
Since April 9th, Musk has tweeted several times about the company and changes that he would like to see happen to the platform.
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
Twitter's board offer to Elon was a move to put the roadblocks up on him having any meaningful influence on the company. Didn't think it was a good move. Especially when they ban people for calling out groomers.
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 11, 2022
As the Wall Street Journal notes, “It was unclear why Musk refused the board seat. Adding Musk would have restricted how big a stake in the company he could own. Musk could now do anything from selling his stake to potentially pursuing a hostile takeover of the company.”
We await the next Musk tweet with bated breath…